15-25 births daily in Vavuniyaa ‘internment camps’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:31 GMT]
More than 2,500 pregnant mothers are detained in Vavuniyaa camps along with hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced civilians. Around fifteen to twenty five births take place each day. 350 births had taken place in the Vavuniyaa general hospital last month, July, according to a survey conducted by the health authorities in collaboration with the WHO and the UNICEF.

These IDP camps are described by human rights organizations and activists are “internment camps”

Maternity facilities at the Cheddiku’lam hospital are still to be enhanced to cater to the urgent needs of would-be mothers even after the construction of five pre-natal and five post-natal wards within the last few months.

The German Red Cross Society has provided a hundred million rupees to construct maternal and paediatric care wards at the Cheddiku'lam hospital but the construction would take time. Medical authorities hope to complete construction by the end of November.

Usually, pregnant mothers are admitted to hospital at least one month prior to delivery, so as to provide them with the necessary nutrition.

The mothers will be kept at the hospital two months after delivery so as to ensure that they and the newborns receive proper nutrition as the atmosphere in the camps are not conducive for the new born infants and feeding mothers, , medial sources said.